


Track 1 – We're Going To Be Friends (The White Stripes)

by REwrites



Series: Play It Again [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Hogwarts Era, Inspired by Music, M/M, Marauders' Era, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-25
Updated: 2013-02-25
Packaged: 2017-12-03 13:41:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/698871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/REwrites/pseuds/REwrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Since his first day at Hogwarts three weeks ago, Sirius Black had accomplished a great many things he was extraordinarily proud of.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Track 1 – We're Going To Be Friends (The White Stripes)

**Fall is here, hear the yell**  
 **back to school, ring the bell**  
 **brand new shoes, walking blues**  
 **climb the fence, books and pens**  
 **I can tell that we're going to be friends**

Since his first day at Hogwarts three weeks ago, Sirius Black had accomplished a great many things he was extraordinarily proud of. He'd acquired both a best friend and mortal enemy. Hacked his mother off royally, resulting in several Howlers delivered during breakfast on different occasions. Earned no less than four detentions (winning him those splendid Howlers) and lost Gryffindor at least seventy house points—though he'd earned a few back for being the only student to transfigure his match into a needle on the first try.

He'd also managed the astounding feat of making shy, quite Remus Lupin laugh.

Granted he had not been aiming to make the boy laugh initially, but he'd been delighted to hear the soft giggle from his rather aloof dorm mate all the same. He was carefully concealed behind a suit of armor, testing out a hex James told him about when it happened. In hindsight, Sirius realized the joke had been on him. Instead of turning Severus Snape's oily hair bright green (to match the slime, James had said) the spell backfired and Sirius's own hair shot straight into the air, standing on end, making him look like a human broomstick.

He spun on his heels the second he heard the sound of laughter behind him and was stunned to see Remus Lupin leaning casually against the wall, a small smile on his pale face. Lupin had made no attempts at befriending the other Gryffindor boys. Sirius hardly noticed him, so occupied as he was with wreaking havoc with James. On the few occasions they'd actually spoken it had been polite but with a distinct chilliness that precluded any further attempts at reaching out. So Lupin didn't want to make friends. That wasn't Sirius's problem, was it?

"That's a good look for you, Black. You should stick with it," he said with the same mild-mannered voice he used in lessons to answer questions, though Sirius was happy to note the small warble of amusement in his voice as he said it.

"Hmph. Jealous, Lupin?" he asked, reaching up to pull his hair back down but it seemed to be stuck that way for the time being.

"Hardly.  _Finite_ ," Lupin said, pointing his wand at Sirius's head, and Sirius felt his hair fall back into place.

Lupin continued to watch him, the same mysterious smile on his face. Sirius wished he would go away. Lupin was weird. Loony-Loopy Lupin other student's called him. While Sirius would jump to his defense whenever the Slytherin boys teased him, privately, he agreed with them. The boy was too quiet, kept to himself too much, and never made any attempts at joining discussion during dinner or after lessons. Lupin hadn't even thanked him yesterday for hexing the other boys who'd taken his bag. Just hefted his, now torn, bag onto his shoulders and left, his face completely impassive. Of course Sirius couldn't just stand by idly while a fellow Gryffindor was in need, and he wasn't expecting much, but a thank you would have been nice.

"Do you even know how that spell works?" Lupin asked finally.

"Apparently not," he huffed, pushing long strands of black hair out of his eyes, wondering where the spell went wrong.

"Would you like to?" he asked, with the air of offering something incredibly tempting.

"You know this spell?" Sirius asked a little doubtfully and Lupin actually had the nerve to roll his eyes.

"Potter lifted the book he got it out of from my trunk. Though he didn't tell you how to do it properly," he explained.

"That bastard."

"Quite. Seeing as we now have a common enemy, feel like paying him back?"

A mad grin formed on his face as he looked at Lupin, his eyebrows raised in question. Sirius nodded both surprised and pleased at this sudden change in attitude from the other boy. "Let's do it," Sirius said, and Lupin gave him a true smile that actually reached his eyes as they left.

Fifteen minutes later they were crouched behind a banister peeking down at the students exiting the Great Hall below. "There's that messy-haired betrayer," Sirius said when he spotted James and Peter leaving.

"Think you can manage the spell this time?" Lupin whispered.

"I'm a quick study, Mr. Lupin. Together?" Sirius asked raising his wand in question.

Lupin nodded and took aim. "Yes, I think so."

Peter doubled over in laughter as James was hit with the spell. Some other students nearby were also beginning to take notice, laughter slowly traveling through the hall.

"What is it?" James asked loudly and an older girl pulled a small mirror from her bag for him to use. "Oh, Black, you are so dead!"

"Catch us if you can, Potter!" he called down to the boy, pulling Lupin to his feet and sprinting through the hall.

He could hear Lupin just behind him as they dodged students and a professor who called after them loudly, but they paid him no mind. James was quicker than he thought, however, and was steadily gaining on them. They ducked into a hidden alcove, breathless with laughter and exertion as they hid from a very livid, very green-haired James Potter.

"I think w—we lost him," Lupin managed to say between breaths, leaning on the wall for support. Sirius just gave him a brilliant smile and clapped him hard on the shoulder. He removed the hand when he saw the boy wince.

"Sorry," he said absentmindedly. "That was brilliant. You're alright, Lupin." Sirius was quick to judge, Blacks often were, but he was rarely wrong. Apparently, there was a first time for everything.

"It's Remus and you're not too bad yourself, Black."

"Sirius," he corrected and Remus nodded. "Come on, let's see if we can give Potter red spots to match his hair."

"I take it back. You're terribly bad, Sirius. A horrible influence," Remus said, but allowed Sirius to drag him from the alcove.

"Me a bad influence? The hair thing was  _your_  idea, Mr. Lupin!" Sirius said, wagging a disapproving finger at the other boy.

Remus rolled his eyes but Sirius saw corners of his mouth twitch. "Remind me of that when we're serving detentions for this."

And, later that night, as both boys were scrubbing toilets for hexing James with horns and red spots, that's exactly what Sirius did. Remus just laughed, a pure, true sound that echoed off the tiles of the floor, and threw a rag in his face. Placing the rag back in the pail of foul water—and asking Remus if he thought Mrs. Norris could use a bath—Sirius decided that, while he'd accomplished a great many things in his few short weeks at Hogwarts, being the only person to pull the happy sound of laughter from the relatively reserved boy was perhaps his greatest achievement yet.


End file.
